Rainy Nights
by Mandolina Lightrobber
Summary: Rainy nights are good for many things. [Subaru, Seishirou]


**_Summary:_ **_A rainy night in Tokyo, two sleepless people, and nothing binding them together. At least, not yet_.

**A/N:** This was born pretty quickly because I was feeling inspired by a bunch of songs. And despite the power outages that occurred every five minutes because of stupid neighbors, I managed to finish it in a matter of two hours. I hate power outages! Ahem. Anyway. You don't need to know that, and you wouldn't even care to know.

**Disclaimer:** I disclaim. Just go worship CLAMP for the characters.

**Warnings:** None. I think.

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**Rainy Nights**

_It was strange..._

The rain and howling wind raging just outside his window, and the night sky heavily overcast with dark woolen clouds, the distant lightning bolts faintly reflecting all over Tokyo and catching a glimpse here and there in the large windows of skyscrapers that were reaching up like eager fingers of a child who wants to clutch the brightest star in his hand and never let go of it.

_It was really strange…_

Usually he was not too fond of such weather when sky and Earth fused into one with the help of rain. He did not like the loud thunderclaps and blinding flashes of lighting that, thankfully, were holding back at the very outskirts of Tokyo this night. Rain was pattering harshly against the glass window, each harder breeze throwing the small drops against it like grains of sand, drumming like a distant and heavily mulled war drum. The dark silhouettes of trees were swaying and a few leaves were torn loose in the merciless breeze that was rattling and howling against the outer windowsill. Too powerful for a usual breeze yet not strong enough to be a wake of a raging storm.

_Strange…_

Subaru reached out and touched the cool glass. For a moment, he had thought he could touch the rain that streamed down the glass like small rivulets of tears. It had looked so deceptively real, so deceptively close and touchable that he had given in to the sudden urge to reach out to it. Pressing his palm to the cold window, he concentrated to feel the flowing water. He knew it was there, he could see that it was there, so he should be able to feel it, too. And for a moment, for one tiny heartbeat, he _felt_ it. Felt the flowing water as if it were streaming down his palm and not the outside of the glass that separated him from the dark and rain-filled world on the other side. A flash of lightning barged into the dark room and threw a silvery shine all over his skin and hair, flashing through his eyes and illuminating the thoughts running through those vivid emeralds, but the boy did not even notice or flinch from it and the following roll of thunder as he usually would have.

Sumeragi Subaru was too immersed in watching the raindrops drifting down the window like forsaken tears to notice the whip of bright light that tore up the cloudy sky, for half a second gracing the world with a ghostly light. Sumeragi Subaru was too lost in the wild turmoil of thoughts swarming through his head to pay attention to anything else.

Somewhere else in the city, in a room with lights turned off was a man. He stood by the window, indifferent golden eye observing the grim world outside, a small burning red spot casting a faint echo, a shadow, of light on his features when the lightning did not flash across the sky. A trail of smoke lazily spiraled up towards the high white ceiling of the room. Rain was pounding against the glass, rattling like weary fingertips of a freezing person that begged to be let in where it was warm.

_Inhale._

The glow of the cigarette brightens for a moment.

_Exhale._

A cloud of smoke slowly floats around before winding upwards and partially dispersing in the darkness.

_Strange…_

Eyes narrowed, he watched a flash of white light arch and angle in the sky, breaking into smaller streaks of light. _Sakura_. That was what it reminded him of. The supposedly white lightning had a faint glow of delicately pink sakura blossoms. _Ironic, indeed_. Thunder rolled loudly, breaking the silence of the room, and another gust of wind showed a handful of raindrops inside the room. He always kept the window slightly open when it rained, – always just a few millimeters from being closed, just enough to let a tiny wisp of air through.

It was just another rainy night, one more to add to those many when he was trapped inside his apartment, unable to leave those four walls and do the tree's bidding. Even now he could feel a faint aroma of cherry blossoms wafting through the room despite the fact that it was summer and cherry trees were not abloom. The soft whisper of rainy air that flooded into the room seemed to hold a breath of the tree that was so crucial for him. White curtains slightly shifted from the draft as if invisible spirits would be breathing in them. And perhaps they were…

After all, there were many people who had died from his hand, their blood feeding the mighty cherry tree, but their souls having no way of use. Maybe they never moved on to whatever it was that was supposed to come after death. Maybe they stayed here, close to him, always reminding him of what he was. Because _who_ he was never changed. He was Sakurazuka Seishirou. It was _what_ he was that could be changed any minute, any heartbeat, any breath. Yet he chose not to. Or actually, – he could not. Because he was Sakurazuka Seishirou.

It was always so, – the nights when one person was awake, another one would not find peace as well. Only one of them was aware of it and knew why that was so. And this one person lit another cigarette and took a long drag from it. A slow twisted smile spread across cruel lips as he exhaled and watched the cloud of smoke drift about before joining the remainder of several previous cigarettes – that light grey haze hovering near the ceiling above him.

_Soon_…

Soon the other one would find out too, but not quite yet.

_No, not yet_…

Thunder rolled loudly across the sky, but the rain was already diminishing. A few fading, parting lightning bolts brought faint grayish reflections in the dark clouds, for a moment casting a ghostly light over the sleeping Tokyo. Dying streams of rainwater were trickling down the streets, spilling from the gargoyles, rare droplets falling from roofs and trees, all the dirt and dust long washed away. Dark woolen clouds were still hovering in the sky, but a certain calmness and silence had settled over the city.

_**The End

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End file.
